Vijay’s Mersal gets NoC from Animal Welfare Board; to release as planned

There’s good news for fans of actor Vijay as their hero’s upcoming film, Mersal, which will feature Samantha, Kajal Aggarwal and Nithya Menon as the female leads, will release as planned on Deepavali.

This is because the Animal Welfare Board has now given a No Objection Certificate for the film’s release.

Earlier, there were doubts as to whether the film would release for Deepavali as the Censor Board expressed its inability to clear the film without a No Objection Certificate from the Animal Welfare Board.

The Censor Board pointed out that it could not clear the film for release as there were some sequences in which pigeons were seen flying and as the team had not submitted a No Objection certificate from the Animal Welfare Board.

The Mersal team claimed that the sequences involving pigeons had been made using graphics. However, as they had not submitted the required proof to the Animal Welfare Board, the Board had not issued a No Objection Certificate.

Following the Censor Board’s stand, the team hurriedly submitted the required evidence to the Animal Welfare Board, which then issued a No Objection certificate for its screening.

Now that the No Objection Certificate has been issued, industry insiders say there should be no problem for the Censor Board in clearing the film for release.

The makers of the film have had to overcome a series of obstacles in their quest to release their film.

First, a case was filed in court over the usage of the title Mersal. After the team won that case, they had to contend with the issue of the Producers Council choosing to stop the release of new films over the imposition of an Entertainment Tax over and above the GST.

After having resolved these issues, just when the team thought that they would have no more problems, this issue over the usage of pigeons arose. However, the team seems to have overcome all three issues and is gearing to release their film.

Sources say that the film, which has been made on a budget of 140 crores, will release in over 1500 screens all over the world.